Guide To Getting The Most Out Of Your Office Space

Having supported so many organisations in Ireland with their office relocations, we regularly see organisations that are not getting the most out of your office space. When commercial space is so expensive and availability becomes an issue, there is a responsibility on us all to use that space effectively.

As a result, we have pulled together our 5 step guide to getting the most out of your office space:

1. Office layouts:
It is easy to stick with your current layout, but is it actually working for everyone in the business? Are the teams that collaborate the most located conveniently? There is an important point here on workforce productivity and making sure that the layout also minimises distances travelled across the offices to key services. What is the typical level of utilisation of meeting rooms? Does every meeting need to be in closed off rooms or could open collaboration spaces work better for your teams? The chances are that the flow in your office isn’t optimised and that some spaces are wasted through limited usage. So our first recommendation is to analyse how your space is used and be ruthless in rethinking the layout.

2. Changing furniture:
Is all your furniture suitable for the work being carried out? It is amazing the impact of choosing more appropriate furniture for your space can have in freeing up space in your office. Workstations come in many styles and sizes to suit different working environments. Simply moving from 1600mm desks with pedestals to smaller alternatives or team workstation cells can open up space within the workplace. Similarly, mobile filing/storage racking systems can free-up a lot of floor space that was previously used by freestanding office storage cabinets. Our second recommendation is to consider changing your office furniture to more fit-for-purpose alternatives to suit your needs and space better.

3. Storage spaces:
While there are statutory requirements for the storage of business files it is extraordinary the amount of archives, files, old brochures and equipment that can be accumulated in storage areas across the office. It is not unusual for a lot of that storage/archives to be long past the statutory dates and could be destroyed or recycled. Where there is still a significant amount of storage space needed after a well organised clear-out, consider moving anything that doesn’t require regular access to a dedicated storage facility. This will work out far cheaper than office rental space per square metre. So our third recommendation is be ruthless in clearing out office storage areas and move what you can to a local storage provider.

4. Occupancy levels:
Your occupancy levels are likely to have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of home-working and the shift to hybrid working as offices reopened. Many organisations are now operating with lower building occupancy levels and in some cases this could mean a lot of office space is now unused. This may be an opportunity to either release space back to the landlord or explore sub-letting some space to another business to reduce your office overhead costs. Always check with your contract and your landlord that this is acceptable first. Our fourth recommendation is review your occupancy levels and look for opportunities to release space and lower your costs.

5. Relocation considerations:
If you follow the guidance above, you may come to the conclusion that your current space really doesn’t suit your needs anymore. If that is the case then the current market for office space is particularly favourable, so you might be able to move to that prized location you always wanted with the space and facilities your organisation now needs. If that is the case we highly recommend reading our Top 5 considerations when planning an office relocation and our Top 5 pitfalls of office relocations.

If you are implementing any of our recommendations above, talk to our Workplace Relocations team at Cronin Movers, where we can provide valuable support in reorganising your existing workspace, move your excess furniture or files into storage, or planning your relocation to new office premises.